Taser use in Best Buy parking lot didn't violate policy, police say

Tuesday

Apr 2, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 2, 2013 at 1:20 AM

Springfield police say the use of a Taser to subdue a pregnant woman during an incident in the parking lot of the Best Buy store at 3193 S. Veterans Parkway on Saturday didn’t violate department policy.

Chris Dettro

Springfield police say the use of a Taser to subdue a pregnant woman during an incident in the parking lot of the Best Buy store at 3193 S. Veterans Parkway on Saturday didn’t violate department policy.

An officer applied a one-second “drive stun” to the left thigh of Lucinda D. White, 29, when she continued to resist after trying to prevent officers from arresting her boyfriend.

The incident began when a man backed his vehicle into one driven by White that was stopped in a parking aisle, causing little if any damage to either vehicle and no injuries, according to police reports.

** Read the police report about the incident (pdf) **

“Taser recommends, and we follow, that if you’re standing back four or five feet and the projectiles are fired, the body freezes and they fall,” said Deputy Chief Cliff Buscher of the Springfield Police Department. “If there’s nobody there to catch them, that’s when injury can occur.”

When a Taser is on “drive stun,” it is held against the person without firing the projectiles. It is intended to cause pain without incapacitating the person.

“He touched the Taser to her thigh, had his hands on her and wrestled her to the ground and arrested her,” Buscher said.

A video of the incident was shot by a bystander and uploaded to YouTube. (Warning: The video contains vulgar language.)

Sangamon County Undersheriff Jack Campbell said use of the Taser system has been shown to reduce injury to both officers and suspects and that the sheriff’s office supports it.

“People resisting is one of the times we’d use it,” he said. “We train our people on using it on pregnant women, and we would support the use of drive stun on the woman’s thigh if necessary. It’s not going to hurt her or injure the baby at all.”

He said “drive stun” mode is used for pain compliance, not to incapacitate, and that there is a distinct difference in the two uses.

White called police to the parking lot after her car was hit and was explaining to an officer what had happened when her boyfriend, Frederic Thomas, 31, kept trying to interrupt, police reports said. Thomas had been inside Best Buy when the accident occurred.

The 72-year-old driver of the Jeep Grand Cherokee that backed into White’s car told police he didn’t see her car. When the police asked the driver about scuff marks on his bumper, the man told them they were a year old and happened when he hit the vehicle with his riding mower.

Police reports said that Thomas then approached and started cursing and yelling at the man and refused to go back to White’s car while the officer finished his accident report.

The officer told Thomas to leave or he would be arrested. When Thomas refused, the officer approached to arrest him and Thomas began swinging his arms, and the officer fell in the parking lot while trying to wrap his arms around Thomas.

As the struggle continued, White kept yelling for the officer to get off Thomas, and pulled on the officer’s shirt, reports said.

A second officer arrived and applied a “drive stun” to Thomas’ hip and tried to pull White off, reports said.

He told White to “get on the ground” but she verbally refused and tried to pull away from his grip on her shoulder, according to the reports.

“White continued to resist until I applied a one second drive stun with my Taser to her left thigh, and was able to force her to the ground and secure her in handcuffs,” the report by Springfield police Sgt. Edward Higginson said.

Both Thomas and White were arrested.

The Sangamon County state’s attorney’s office said it was reviewing possible charges in the case on Tuesday.

Police interviewed several witnesses and said they attempted to interview a group of three people, one of whom appeared to be videotaping the incident on his cell phone. But when asked if they had seen anything, they refused to cooperate, police reports said.

Chris Dettro can be reached at 788-1510. Follow him at twitter.com/chrisdettrosjr.